Best Place to Feel the Heat (2012)

There might be no better place to set your taste buds alight than at West Hollywood's temple to Northern Thai street food, Night + Market. Chef Kris Yenbamroong's cooking is distinctive — funky fish sauce, pungent herbs and, perhaps most notably, searing chile heat. The papaya salad, cool and lime-tart at first, packs a lingering burn. The umami-rich shrimp-paste fried rice called kao kluk gapi is fortified with enough tiny bird's-eye chiles to make your collar steam. But the most addictive, lip-tingling dish on the menu has to be the thumb-sized fried pig tails — crunchy, bronzed on the exterior, oozing liquefied porcine flavor, sprinkled with chopped cilantro and bits of fresh garlic, then lashed with a merciless amount of spice. If you can't stand the heat, get out of the night market. 9041 W. Sunset Blvd., W. Hlywd. (310) 275-9724, nightmarketla.com.